At the first hearing agribusiness, IDEM and IDA justified CAFO expansion/construction in the name of economic development and feeding the world.

Serious consideration of environmental, public health, economic and ethical impacts of animal agriculture were not acknowledged.

This second hearing was scheduled for public comment.

Environmentalists, farmers and neighbors to CAFOs will certainly testify to lack of protection provided by laws/regulations/enforcement.

Reference will be made to the myriad of studies supporting the health benefits of a vegan lifestyle with facts documenting animal production as major contributor to climate change and eating of animals as the “driving force behind virtually every major category of environmental damage,” according to the Worldwatch Institute.

Animals are not commodities. We must address the basic prejudice permitting humans to protect one species and exploit another. Animals and their secretions represent 99.7 percent of animals needlessly harmed by humans. Raising animals for consumption is unnecessary. Alternatives are abundant.

As “Farm to Fable” author Robert Grillo wrote, “There is no valid ethical or scientific argument in favor of breeding and killing animals ... for our selfish purposes.”